Just One More Try
by Leederlee
Summary: Arid the SandWing is stuck in a time loop. He keeps reliving the day the dragonflame cactus exploded the history cave over and over again. He needs to figure out how to stop the loop or it may never stop and Arid could be stuck in it, forever. Rated T for death. Takes place during ‘Moon Rising’
1. Try: 1

**Try: 1**

"Dude, are you okay?" Arid's clawmate, Garnet, asked as he shot up from his bed.

"Uh, yup," Arid said as he tried to rub the sleepiness from his eyes,

"Well, get up, ya don't wanna be late." The SkyWing said as he left the room.

It was really just a normal day, nothing interesting had happened yet. Arid was a sand-colored dragon with the normal SandWing black eyes. He was the Quartz winglet's SandWing at Jade Mountain Acadamy. The school year had just started and it had only been a few days. He had been expecting loads of murderous dragons but there hadn't been any attacks on dragons so far, except that IceWing that attacked the NightWing in the prey center.

Arid got up and left the room. He found another dragon from his winglet, Barracuda, as he headed out for Breakfast, praying there would be something he'd like. He was wrong.

"Fish AGAIN!" Arid groaned as he watched Barracuda rummage through the fish pile until he pulled out his so-called 'favorite'. Although, Arid had seen him eat tons of different fish so far and called them all his favorites. Barracuda was the SeaWing of the Quartz winglet, he was a strong looking, aqua SeaWing with green eyes.

"Do you want me to grab you a fish?" Barracuda asked, holding up two of his own which flopped usually as he moved his hand.

"Eh, no.' Arid said, pushing the fish away, "I'll find my own food." Sadly, there were no lizards. The SandWing advanced toward the small pile of various meats. None of them were lizard or camel, the only kinds he had had before. He chose a large gone at random and walked off to find Barracuda.

"Yeah, and then the SkyWings bombed our palace." He heard Barracuda say as he spoke to the Quartz winglet's SkyWing, Garnet.

"Dude, I'm sorry okay!" Garnet said, trying to defend himself.

"At least Arid wasn't there… right, Arid?" Barracuda asked, looking to him for an answer.

"Yes, I was," Arid responded, surprising Barracuda as he took a bite out of his mystery meat. "I was on Burn's side with the SkyWings and MudWings." as he said this, he and Garnet high-fived.

"Hey!" Barracuda whined, "This is unfair."

"Love the new queen by the way," Arid told Garnet, ignoring Barracuda.

"Queen Ruby is fantastic." Garnet agreed as another SkyWing plopped down next to him.

"Hey, Carnelian," Garnet said as the dragon took a bite out of her food.

"Hey." Was all the new SkyWing grumbled to the group.

"Everyone, this is Carnelian, my cousin. Carnelian, this is some of my winglet. This is Arid and that is Barracuda." Garnet introduced. The two dragons did not look much alike as Carnelian had massive wings and scales of scarlet that were riddled with battle scars. Each and every scale shone like rubies. Her eyes were a deep orange color.

Meanwhile, Garnet, her supposed cousin, had many of her facial featured along with his ginormous wings. Garnet, however, was a red-orange color. His scales looked like a frozen lava flow. Each scale was a different shade but together looked fantastic. They also shared the deep orange eyes.

"Did Carnelian fight in the war with you?" Barracuda asked, looking again at this angry red dragon.

"Yeah, she did." Garnet told him, looking at his fellow SkyWing, "She's a really good fighter too." As the two dragons went on rudely, talking about Carnelian like she wasn't there, Arid studied her features. She looked awfully familiar.

"What are you looking at," Carnelian asked him, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Sorry, it's just that you look really familiar," Arid told her, a surprised look crossed her face.

"Oh yeah." Garnet said, butting into the conversation, "Arid fought on our side during the war." After that, most of the meal was silent for Carnelian as she began to study his features as if trying to pinpoint where he was from.

Arid decided that he liked his mystery meat as he finished up. Carnelian had grumbled something about music class while Arid headed off to his next class. History.

* * *

Arid silently banged his head on the desk as Webs droned on about The Scorching and how vital it was. Ermine, the winglet's IceWing, sat next to him. She had amazing snow white scales along with light, icy blue scales along her spine and wings. She had silver sapphire earrings hanging from each ear and she had light, crystal clear light blue eyes. All Arid had gathered on her so far was that she was great at medicines and was in the 'Third Circle' but, Arid didn't know what that meant.

On his other side sat Siamang, the RainWing of the group. She was shifting colors while starring at her talons, watching them change. She was always very calm and collected, unlike all the easily excited bunch of RainWings that he'd met so far.

In front of him was Newt, the MudWing. She was small, probably the youngest in her family. She had light brown eyes accompanied by light scales. She was also the only one paying any attention. The rest of his winglet was starring off into oblivion, or in Barracuda's case, watching Siamag's colors shifting. That girl was like a living rainbow.

As Webs went on about The Scorching, Arid noticed a small hissing noise, but quickly dismissed it as he saw the winglet's NightWing hissing at a drawing he had made, and messed up on. Mightyclaws was a skinny NightWing with black scales. He was Barracuda's clawmate and apparently didn't like to talk much. He rarely spoke and Barracuda told Arid that all Mightyclaws did was ignore him when he tried to speak to him.

Off in the corner, Garnet was looking miserable. He was holding his head and let out a small whimper that went unnoticed by Webs. The only dragons that heard it was himself and Ermine. The IceWing gave Garnet a sympathetic look before turning back to Webs.

"Class dismissed." Webs told them and before the words had even finished leaving his mouth, Garnet was gone. Arid hurried up to follow him. The SkyWing looked a little pale.

"Garnet, are you alright?" He asked him,

"No, I think I'm gonna be sick." His friend grumbled. Ermine strode up alongside them.

"May I offer some help?" She asked, her voice clear and confident.

"Please." Arid pleaded, looking at his friend. The IceWing didn't even look at Garnet. Arid guessed that she had been studying him for most of the class. The dragon looked like he was about to puke.

"Most likely food poisoning, I can escort him to the medical cave. It's a free period right now." As Ermine said this, Garnet nodded and began to follow her.

Arid wandered the halls for a while before ending up in his sleeping cave. Was food poisoning contagious? He sure didn't hope so. Arid began to twirl his earring between his claws. He had found it in the hallway the day before. He liked it, it was a gold earring with an onyx teardrop embedded into it. It felt eerie in a way that made Arid feel cool. It matched his pitch black eyes too, not that he cared about the fashion in it or anything. Ermine came to his cave later to tell him to get his tail to class. Along with the news that Garnet did, in fact, have food poisoning, but he'd be fine.

* * *

Arid sat stiffly as his second class began. Art. It wasn't that he didn't _like_ to paint or draw, it was just that he wasn't exactly _good_ at it. He carefully picked up a paintbrush, as the teacher had told him they were called and began to lower it into the yellow paint. As he began to make a large circle (He planned to draw the sun) Mightclaws interrupted him.

"Don't push the paintbrush down that hard." The NightWing told him, looking back at his own painting. Arid snorted in frustration, the dragon should just mind his own business. Mightyclaws was begging to draw a dark colored island. It wasn't very good, there were some spots that looked horrible, so Arid didn't see why the dragon had the right to criticize him.

Arid kept pushing his paintbrush down hard. Mightyclaws rolled his eyes and continued to paint the dark, gloomy island on his own easel. Arid kept getting angry because the fur of the paintbrush was coming off and getting stuck in his sun. He was mad, his painting was bad, this made him sad.

For a moment, there was silence.

Then a sound rang loud and clear throughout the school. Arid sprung up from the floor and bolted out of the room.

Arid knew that sound.

It was the sound of death.

An explosion had gone off.

Arid ran down the halls, thousands of thoughts cascading over his mind. The war was supposed to be _over_. This stupid school was about peace for moons sake! Why did someone set off an explosive? A strong smell of smoke filled his lungs and he knew he was close.

As he rounded the corner he saw it. Fire, chaos, death. The SandWing watched at Clay and another SkyWing, Peril if he wasn't mistaken, pulled dragons out of the burning history cave. He wanted to run up and see the bodies but dragons blocked his path. There were about seven dragons near the entrance. A panicked NightWing, an unfamiliar SandWing, an angry IceWing, a frightened RainWing, a male MudWing, and a female MudWing who looked confused.

If Arid said that he was scared and sad about the losses right now, it'd be a lie. He didn't know any of those dragons. It looked like two NightWings. Why would a SandWing care about two worthless NightWings?

It was then that Arid noticed that one of them _wasn't_ a NightWing. He saw the glisten of scarlet scales underneath the black soot. He noticed the long horns of and the giant wings. Lastly, he saw the orange eyes. This dragon was no NightWing. This was a SkyWing. This was Carnelian.

Finally, another dragon covered in soot and scales colored white and lime green was rushed out of the area. The small grouping of dragons that sat by the dead bodies dispersed and Arid stood solemnly in the corner. He didn't know Carnelian that well. They had just met that morning. However, Garnet. He didn't know and the teachers were going to tell him. Arid wasn't going to let that happen.

Arid sped down the halls once more, flying ahead of Clay and straight into the medical den where an oblivious and confused Garnet sat. He looked better, some of the color had returned to his face, a face that smiled at him as he dashed into the room.

"Hey Arid!" Garnet said, not noticing the grave look on Arid's face, "What was the explosion noise?" As the SkyWing said this, Clay entered the room with Tamarin and Garnet looked confused again.

"Garnet…" Arid started, trying to find a way to word this correctly, "The bomb noise you heard was just that, a bomb."

"Wait, who?" Garnet asked, Arid continued and ignored him.

"It blew up the history room where two winglets were going to have class. There were dragons in there when it exploded. Garnet… one of those dragons was Carnelian. She's dead now." After Arid said her name, Garnet's face began to turn red and tears began to roll down his face. Garnet tried to speak but they only came out as hiccups. Arid sat down and wrapped his wing around his friend.

"Food poisoning isn't contagious right?" Arid asked his friend who just laughed through the tears and shook his head. They sat there like that for a while until an angry looking RainWing sat down next to the RainWing from the explosion. This new RainWing was small, angry and downcast. She looked down at what Arid could only assume was her friend. A few times the little dragon whispered the name Tamarin, other than that, she seemed to be lost in her thoughts.

It was after a while when Garnet spoke up, "Thanks Arid, you didn't have to do this you know."

"Yeah, I know… I just thought that you should hear it from someone you knew than figure it out on your own." Arid replied, looking at his friend's tear-stained face.

"It's getting late, you should probably head back to our cave," Garnet said.

"You could probably come back with me," Arid told the SkyWing as he stood up.

"Naw, I think it's best that I stay here." Garnet paused, "Could you come with me when I go up to see her body tomorrow?" Garnet asked, looking up into Arid's black eyes.

"Sure," Arid replied with a warm smile. He turned and left with a swish of his tail and headed off to his cave.

When he arrived he plopped down onto his ledge and quickly fell asleep.

.oOo.

Time turned midnight and a soft glow emitted from the room. A sleeping Arid rolled around in his sleep as magic did its work and time turned back.

 **AN:  
Hallo! Yes, it's been a long time. None of these characters are OCs. They all really do attend the Quartz winglet in the books. I am using them because they are 100% insignificant in the books. This story takes place the day that Sora set off the bomb in the school. **


	2. Try: 2

**Try: 2**

"Dude, are you okay?" Arid's clawmate, Garnet, asked as he shot up from his bed.

"Uh, yup," Arid said as he tried to rub the sleepiness from his eyes,

"Well, get up, ya don't wanna be late." The SkyWing said as he left the room.

Arid looked around as he began to feel a serious case of Déjà vu. Hadn't this all happened before? Maybe Garnet had moved back to their room during the night. That made sense. However, Garnet didn't look sad.

"Garnet, how you holding up?" Arid asked as he ran to catch up to him. His clawmate gave him a funny look.

"What do you mean?" Garnet said, looking completely confused. It was as if he couldn't remember yesterday. Maybe he was avoiding it. Arid decided to let him deal with his emotions on his own.

"Nevermind," Arid muttered. They soon arrived at a pile of meats and Garnet's face lit up.

"Chicken!" As Garnet said this, he snatched the mystery meat that Arid had eaten yesterday.

"What should I eat?" Arid asked his SkyWing friend, "I've never had any of these."

"That one is steak." Garnet said giving it to Arid, "It would've been my second choice." Arid noticed that this 'steak' that he now heald was the food that Garnet had eaten yesterday. They soon sat down with Barracuda and began to talk.

It was then that Carnelian came and plopped down in the seat right next to Garnet. Arid gasped, inhaled a piece of meat and began to choke.

"Woah!" Garnet said as Arid was attacked by a fit of coughs. Barracuda slowly began to ask if he was okay and all Arid could do was a nod. As the coughs slowly came to a stop and he was able to breathe normally. How? How was Carnelian still alive? He had _seen_ her dead body!

As Arid began to slowly process this event, Garnet spoke up, "Well guys, this is my cousin Carnelian. Carnelian, this is Arid and Barracuda." Carnelian waved, she and Arid locked eyes for a moment before she broke off and began to eat her food. Arid quickly finished his and tried once more to figure out what was happening.

"Like your earring by the way," Carnelian told him, interrupting his thoughts. He had almost forgotten that he was wearing it.

"Thanks, I found it a few days ago. It's pretty cool." The SandWing replied with a slight smile.

"Oh, we should probably hurry up and head off for History class," Barracuda said the rest of them nodded. Arid figured that he was probably dreaming.

"I have music," Carnelian grumbled as she returned to her food.

* * *

Arid felt sick.

He wanted to throw up right then and there. He proably could if he had eaten more. Maybe food poisoning was contagious after all. However, Garnet looked fine. Food poisoning sounded like something you got from food. Maybe it was what he ate.

The bell rung and Arid dashed out of the room. Garnet caught up to him easily.

"Arid, are you alright?" The SkyWing asked him,

"No, I think I'm gonna be sick," Arid grumbled, holding his wings in close. Ermine strode up alongside them.

"May I offer some help?" She asked, her voice clear and confident.

"Please." Garnet pleaded, looking at his friend. The IceWing didn't even look at Arid before talking again. He guessed that she had been studying her clawmate for most of the class. He looked like he was about to puke.

"Most likely food poisoning, I can escort him to the medical cave. It's a free period right now." As Ermine said this, Arid nodded and began to follow her down the halls.

"Eh, what is food poisoning?" Arid asked as he followed the confident IceWing. She gave him a small smile.

"It means that what you ate was bad and your stomach is upset and hurting because of it," Ermine said, kind voice ringing in the air. Ermine was very nice and loved helping others. She'd helped Garnet yesterday when he got sick. Honestly, yesterday was felling the exact same as today but with little differences. Arid had been feeling a strong sense of Déjà vu all day.

Arid's earring hit his head lightly as if a reminder that it was still there, as a NightWing strode past them. The NightWing didn't look at them but, Arid recognized that he was the NightWing that died in the explosion last night.

If this was a dream, why was he here? Arid didn't care about him, no matter how heartless it sounded. This wasn't a dream then, you can't get sick in a dream, can you?

Arid pinched himself.

Nope, not a dream.

"And here we are," Ermine said as they entered a cave. Torches lined the walls and there were a couple of beds coming out of the walls along with piles of moss or leaves on the floor. This was the medicine cave that he'd been in the night before when he told Garnet about Carnelian's death.

However, Carnelian wasn't dead, was she?

Ermine went over to one of the doctors there and told them about his condition. As she began to leave Arid spoke up,

"By the way, thanks for helping Garnet yesterday!" he called, Ermine just turned around and gave him a look of confusion.

"I didn't help Garnet yesterday, he was completely fine." And with that, she walked away.

Arid sat there by himself for a bit, the doctor poked and prodded him for a few minutes before leaving him to himself. He felt lonely and out of place in the cave. He began to roll the day over in his mind, comparing it to the day before.

"Hey Arid!" Arid's head shot up as the dragons entered the room. The speaker had been Garnet and beside him was Carnelian.

"Hey," Arid said, looking up at the two. It made sense for Garnet to be there but, it didn't make any that Carnelian was standing before him.

"How you feeling?" Garnet asked as he sat down by Arid, Carnelian aqwardly copied her cousin.

"Better, why are you guys here?" He asked, more about Carnelian that Garnet. His SkyWing friend gave him a small shrug.

"I wanted to check up on you. Carnelian and I were hanging out and she decided to tag along." Garnet explained.

"This way I get to skip class." Carnelian put in as if it made more sense than what Garnet had said. Arid realized that if she had done this yesterday or the real-time- whatever happened before, she wouldn't have died.

Arid faked a smile as Garnet told him about what they had been doing before they came to see him.

There was silence again.

Then, like the time before, a loud noise rang through the air.

There was chaos.

There was death.

Identical to the day before.

Both Garnet's and Carnelian's eyes widened. The shock came from both pairs of eyes but, no fear was shone it Carnelian's eyes. If she was scared, she hid it well.

"What the-" Garnet began, but Arid cut in,

"Go, see what it was!" He told them, lashing his tail. Carnelian was already out the door when Garnet hesitantly got up.

"You'll be fine," Arid assured him, "Now go!" The SkyWing gave him a quick nod before running out the door, leaving the SandWing to himself.

What was going on? Was this some form of animus magic? Surely there weren't any animus dragons left, were there?

Arid touched his earring again as if it would give him answers to his only question.

 _How?_ How was any of this possible? It had to be a dream. However, it couldn't be one, could it?

That ment it _had_ to be animus magic, no matter how improbable it was. Could animus magic turn back time? Would he be stuck like this forever? Maybe it was a one-time thing. He'd have to find out tonight.

Dragons came in carrying the RainWing from the day before -or was it try before- and laid her softly down onto the bed she'd been on before. If Arid wasn't mistaken, her name was Tamarin and a little RainWing would come by later to sit with her.

Garnet came back to tell him about what happened before leaving again to get a good night's sleep.

It wasn't long before the small RainWing came in.

"Hi," Arid said, giving her a small wave. She looked a little startled, her scales turning shades of orangey purple, blue and violet. Arid had no idea what any of them meant. The dragon's scales quietly turned to a blue and pale blue mix.

"Hello!" She replied, voice sounding with fake delight, "I'm Kinkajou." Arid could tell that she had been somewhat irritated or annoyed when she had come in but was now curious about him and worried about her friend who lay injured before her.

"I'm Arid." He told her calmly, ignoring the silent twisting in his stomach. Reminding him that he was still under the effects of food posioning.

"Why are you in here?" She asked, looking at him. Arid saw her claws fidgeting with a small stone as she sat there. Her tail twitched every now and again, he got the impression that she always had loads of energy.

"Food poisoning." He answered, "You?"

"Well, my friend, Tamarin, got hurt." Kinkajou gestured to the sleeping RainWing before her, "And, I really need to think…" She paused before looking up at him, "What would you do if your best friend kept a huge, gicantic, important secret from you because she thought you wouldn't like her?"

"Depends on the secret," Arid told her, looking at her.

"Hmm well…" She stopped, thinking up an example, "What if your NightWing in your winglet had powers? Like mind reading and future sight, and they kept that from you? And, they were your BEST FRIEND in the WHOLE WORLD!" Kinkajou asked, tail curling up behind her. Arid snorted at the thought of him and Mightyclaws actually being friends.

"Well, I'd be frustrated but, she told you. That means she trusts you to not tell anyone." As he said this, Kinkajou looked guilty as dark purple spots began to appear on her scales, "Also, think what it's like to be her for a moment. Always hearing everything, that's got to be annoying. Along with the fact that, would dragons like her if she knew their every thought?"

Kinkajou was silent, rolling what he'd said over in her mind.

"I should apologize to her, shouldn't I?" Kinkajou asked, mostly to herself, "I yelled at her and left. I feel terrible." Arid nodded to the dark purple RainWing, encouraging her to go and talk to her friend.

"Come back and tell me how it went!" He called as she bounded out of the room, determined.

Arid sat there, going in and out of sleep as he did. Kinkajou didn't come back, that he knew of, she may have returned while he was asleep. He wasn't sure.

He opened his eyes again as time turned to midnight. He got up in fear as he watched his earring begin to glow eerily.

The earring's glow began to blind him.

"Talons and-" He began to shout as he felt an odd tingling sensation fill his body as time turned back once more.

 **AN:**

 **So, second chapter. You'll probably see a lot of repeated things, like what Garnet says each time Arid wakes up. Arid will probably spend time with each dragon in his winglet along with some other dragons if you want to give ideas, feel free.**

 **There is no character option for Arid, Garnet or Carnelian. They are all canon but I can't figure out how to add them to the character list. If someone does know how, please tell me!**

 **Reply to Guest reviews -**

 **Honky Honk -** _Now I want to write about an insignificant character because of you lol_ _This was a good idea. I checked the book to make sure Arid was a character._ **\- Thanks! Yeah, Arid is a character. I picked the winglet with like, no important characters so now I can do whatever I want! THE POWER I HOLD!**

 **Thanks!**

 **Leederlee**


	3. Try: 3

**Try: 3**

"Tails!" Arid finished as he shot up from his bed. Wait, bed? Wasn't he just in the medical cave? Did it all really start over again? Just like that?

"Dude, are you okay?" Garnet asked him at the same time.

"NOPE!" He practically shouted. Garnet looked startled and mumbled something about breakfast as they left the cave together. They entered the prey center, grabbed some meat (A different one, he didn't want food poisoning again) and sat down by Barracuda, only to be joined by Carnelian, again, for the third time. This time, Arid spoke first after the introduction.

"Everyone, this is Carnelian, my cousin. Carnelian, this is some of my winglet. This is Arid and that is Barracuda." Garnet introduced, again.

"Carnelian, why don't you just sit with your winglet?" He asked her. The SkyWing looked up at him, startled. She hadn't been expecting that. Arid watched this all play out, silently.

"Because-" Carnelian started but, Garnet stopped her.

"Oh! Let's go sit with them! You can introduce us!"

"Well-" Carnelian tried to speak again as she glanced at her winglet. Garnet followed their gaze and grabbed Carnelian,

"Come on! Let's go!" Carnelian looked furious and embarrassed as Arid got up to follow. He wasn't going to let Garnet embarrass his cousin in front of her entire winglet today. Not that it'd matter. They wouldn't remember.

"Hello!" Garnet said as he forced Carnelian to sit down. Arid calmly sat down next to her.

"Hi!" Kinkajou said, "Carnelian! You brought friends!" The little RainWing looked very excited about new dragons. She was much different now than she was the night before. Kinkajou was seated next to a NightWing, who, if Arid could correctly remember the night before, was her 'BEST FRIEND in the whole WORLD!'. The black dragon looked like she was ready to jump from her seat, leave and never come back.

There was a SandWing. He looked mostly familiar. With an up-close look, he recognized him as Qibli. He was loyal to Queen Thorn. Arid thought he was very respectable, even though it looked like he was figuring out ten ways to beat him all at once. It made Arid feel uncomfortable.

Another was a SeaWing. They were a male and wore a gold armband with black stones embedded into it. He was green with a slightly lighter underbelly. He looked calm and collected compared to the jumpy NightWing sitting with him.

The last two were both MudWings. The female was larger than the male but was still small. She had quite brown scales and brown eyes. Arid assumed the boy was her brother. He was small, also had brown scales and light amber eyes.

"I'm Garnet, Carnelian's cousin!" Garnet introduced to the group, slightly opening his wings in a small greeting, "And this is Arid! Our best friend!" He did his best not to laugh at that. Carnelian's best friend? Srid was sure that Carnelian didn't have best friends.

The NightWing gave a small wave as Kinkajou took the liberty of introducing all of them. Carnelian look to Arid and mouthed the words 'Help me'.

"This is Moon, my best friend. Turtle, Qibli, Umber and his sister, Sora!" Qibli and Turtle gave them smiles and Arid returned one.

"Arid, you don't look familiar, did you live in the Scorpion den?" he asked suddenly. Arid's mind flashed back to his past for a moment before answering.

"No, I was on Burn's side but honestly," He smiled, "I am _so_ glad Queen Thorn got the throne instead. Burn would've been a disaster." Qibli gave a smile and a quick nod in response and turned to his food. He seemed much calmer now.

Out of all of them, Moon spoke the least often, only jumping into the conversation to add in bits and pieces.

She had these two silver teardrop scales by her eyes. At first, Arid had thought they were embedded gems or something. They weren't. They were pretty but, none of the other NightWings had silver scales by their eyes. Well, except Fatespeaker.

He looked at Carnelian and an image of the explosion and her dead body flashed through his mind. Arid shook his head and finished up his food.

"Whelp, we have History, I'm going to head over there." He said, standing up. Garnet agreed and followed him out. Arid turned back once more to give the group a passing glance and found Carnelian looking at him for a moment before she quickly turned away. The SandWing sighed. History class is the _worst_.

* * *

History went quickly and Arid headed off to the library this time around. Thankfully, this time, no one had gotten food poisoning.

Last time, Garnet had told him that he and Carnelian were in the library. That meant that she was in there. He paused near the entrance when he caught sight of her. She was in the corner reading a small scroll. The shadows reflected off her scales, giving them a deeper feel. He smiled as he walked in, planning out a reason to be there.

Arid headed off in her direction before ultimately deciding that it'd be weird if he approached her head on and instead grabbed a random scroll off a shelf and sat down near her.

Carnelian let out a soft snarl as he sat down and her grip on her scroll strengthened. She was angry.

"Uh, sorry?" He quickly apologized, not wanting to make her angry. Carnelian looked surprised as he spoke. She hadn't noticed him yet. Their eyes met and Arid relaxed a bit.

"What?" She asked, clearly confused.

"You snarled as I came over here, your not mad right?" He asked cautiously. Carnelian gave a small smile for just one moment. The smile disappeared as quickly as it'd came. Arid remembered that Garnet said she was battle hardened. She didn't want to show weakness. Did happiness really count as weakness?

"No, I was just denied my request to head back to the army by the Queen." The SkyWing let out a short, longing sigh. Arid wanted to comfort her for a moment before remembering that she probably wouldn't want it.

"You really want to return to the war _that_ badly?" The memory of Carnelian's charred and dead body hung ominously in his mind.

"I want to be a general." She told him bluntly, despite his worried expression.

"Then maybe you should stay _at_ school. You could learn some useful things Carnelian." He told her, trying to make his voice sounding meaningful. She thought for a moment before shaking her head.

"I don't feel like I belong here. I'm fine in the army. I'm a good fighter and can handle myself. This school can't teach me anything useful for life out there Arid." And with that, she left. Leaving Arid alone with memories of her dead body hanging over his head.

* * *

Arid wandered the halls after deciding to skip art class. He passed a few dragons before coming up at the entrance to the History cave. He knew that it would explode soon. Arid watched as Kinkajou and most of her winglet came up. The NightWing, Moon, collapsed as she held her head. Everyone ducked around her as Carnelian strode down the hallway. Moon kept muttering about the danger.

"Hey, Carnelian," Qibli called out the SkyWing who had been very close to the entrance, "Don't go in there."

"Why?" She demanded, annoyance in her tone as she looked at the SandWing.

"Uh," He said, stumbling for an excuse, "One of the torches got all smokey, the whole cave smells. Needs to air out."

"Smells fine to me," Carnelian growled at him before continuing onward. Arid stepped out and stopped her.

"Carnelian, I need to ask you something." He called, hoping that she'd listen. The SkyWing looked at him, the classroom, then him again before slowly coming over.

"I left my notes on my desk from my History class, think you could-" He began before the bomb went off. Both he and Carnelian where blown into the wall and the world went black.

* * *

"-just a head injury." Arid heard someone say as he slowly began to open his eyes. His winglet surrounded him and were all looking at Ermine as she reassured them that he'd be fine. Beside him lay an awake Carnelian, her head was bandaged up but other than that, she looked fine.

"And here he is," Carnelian grumbled as his eyes fully opened. They all turned to look at him with joyful expressions.

"Hey-" Arid was cut off as Garnet gave him a huge hug, something that he would've never expected from the SkyWing. He fell back from the force before The SkyWing let go.

"Dude! I'm so glad you're okay!" He told the SandWing. The group spoke for a while before they all left. Leaving him and a now asleep Carnelian alone.

Arid knew that the day would restart in a few hours so he just waited. To his surprise, someone actually came in. Kinkajou had come in earlier and left, this was her NightWing friend. Moon. _Why is she here?_

"Hey," She said nervously, taking a seat near his bed. He remembered the time before when he and Kinkajou had spoken. She'd told him of her NightWing friend who had kept a secret from her.

"Hi, do you, uh, need something?" He asked, trying to sound as polite as possible. She looked at him for a moment before shaking her head.

"I wanted to... Thank you for saving Carnelian." The NightWing said slowly. She looked like she wasn't all there. Like part of her was distracted and listening to someone else. He looked over at Carnelian.

 _It was either that or watch her die again._ He thought calmly while looking over the sleeping SkyWing.

"Sorry what?" Moon asked, startling him. Arid turned back to face her. Her eyes were wide, as if she hadn't meant to say that aloud. The NightWing quickly fixed her face, looking calm once more.

"What?"

"Oh, nevermind." She whispered, turning to look at the floor. The SandWing, however, was not fooled.

 _What if your NightWing in your winglet had powers? Like mind reading and future sight, and they kept that from you? And, they were your BEST FRIEND in the WHOLE WORLD!_ Arid remembered Kinkajou telling him. Was she telling the truth? There was really only one way to find out without being weird.

 _Can you read minds?_ Arid thought, trying to direct his thoughts at her. The dragon looked surprised. So she _could_ read minds.

"This was a mistake." She mumbled before quickly leaving the room. Arid flopped back onto the bed and closed his eyes.

It had been one eventful day.

As Arid slept, his earring began to glow again, bringing him back to the start of the day.

 **AN-**

 **Sorry for not updating in a while! I've been busy with school work and been really distracted recently... *Insert more excuses here* Anyway, feel free to review and point out anything I did wrong or anything you would like to happen! Thanks!**

 **\- Leederlee**


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